From International Astronautical Federation

Paris, France (IAF PR 03-2010), 12 May 2010 - During the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in 2009, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) announced an effort in the field of landmine stand-off detection using both Space and Airborne systems integrating remote-sensing, telecommunication and geo-localisation technologies. Having been instrumental in originating this effort, the IAF has recommended that the Integrated Application Promotion (IAP) programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) takes this project forward. With regard to this, tenders are now invited for this work.

Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW, e.g. cluster ammunition) are a threat to human life and economic development of nations emerged from conflicts.

Land Release in Mine Action is the process where the demining community identifies and releases uncontaminated land and prioritizes suspected hazardous areas for a staged approach of ever-closer investigation. Within a given budget the objective of this investigation is not so much to find and remove as many mines/ERW as possible, rather to achieve a maximum socio-economic benefit for affected populations.

The investigation starts at national/regional level and eventually leads to localization and safe removal of the explosive contamination within the most critical individual minefields, after which these areas can be returned to the community.

Land Release in Mine Action could benefit significantly from space asset capabilities. Earth Observation data, Satellite Communication and Satellite Navigation could e.g. help to:

• Produce socio-economic impact maps for better informed suspected area prioritization by mine action decision makers.
• Identify low-risk areas for increased land release before mine clearance action is even started, by combination of collected indicators of mine/ERW presence and absence (geo-referenced in-situ reports, land and infrastructure usage, topography, damage, bombing patterns).
• Characterise the environmental setting of a hazardous area (humidity, slope, surface roughness), which helps to select the most appropriate detection tools and the right time for their deployment.
• Support the geo-referencing of data and the navigation needs for non-technical surveys, stand-off detection, demarcation of hazardous zones, close-in detection and clearance.
• Provide global communication capabilities to securely transfer collected data into IMSMA (Information Management System for Mine Action), for easier access to updated consolidated information, improved traceability and quality management of mine action.

The study shall produce a concept for space enabled services supporting Land Release in Mine Action at its various stages. It will assess their added value, affordability and viability, and will prepare the roadmap for a possible pre-operational demonstration. It is endorsed by the International Astronautical Federation as well as by the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) to secure the user perspective and relevance. Developers, users and service-providers within the space and the mine action community are encouraged to join up and submit a bid.

The related tender documentation (cover letter, statement of work, special tender conditions, draft contract, clarifications) can be found on ESA's Electronic Tendering System EMITS (http://emits.esa.int) as Announcement of Opportunity (AO) 6392 under the category "Open Invitations to Tender".

For courtesy, the related tender documents are also linked below. However any update or clarification will be directly and immediately available only on the EMITS website.

• Cover Letter
• Draft Contract
• Special tender conditions
• Statement of work

On-line resources may prove useful to identify the adequate organisations (e.g. http://www.mineaction.org/ and http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Industry/).

ESA presented some highlights of the Statement of Work at the 7th International Symposium on Humanitarian Demining (http://www.ctro.hr/eng/training-and-seminar-organization/symposium-humanitarian-demining-2010/article/symposiumhumanitarian-demining-2010-101.html) (Croatia, 27-29 April 2010).

For further information please contact:

Philippe Willekens, International Astronautical Federation, 94 bis, Avenue de Suffren 75015 Paris, France

Tel: +33 1 45 67 42 60

About the International Astronautical Federation

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international non-governmental and non-profit organisation, founded in 1951.

The IAF is composed of space agencies, space companies, societies, associations and institutes. There are currently 198 members in 53 countries.

The Federation encourages the advancement of knowledge about space and the development and application of space assets for the benefit of humanity. It plays an important role in disseminating information, and in providing a significant worldwide network of experts in the development and utilisation of space.

The IAF organises seminars, symposia and events throughout the year. The most visible product of the IAF is the International Astronautical Congress (IAC).

Further information can be found on the IAF website at http://www.iafastro.org

About the European Space Agency (ESA)

The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states. Headquartered in Paris, ESA has a staff of more than 2000 with an annual budget of about €3.6 billion in 2009.

The objective of ESA’s Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme is the development of operational services for a wide range of users through the combination of different systems. By using and integrating different space assets (e.g. Earth observation, satellite communication, satellite navigation, manned space technologies), improved or new services on a regional, national or European scale will be created. Intrinsic to these new applications is the added value of space and the long-term sustainability of the resulting services. The programme thereby responds to user needs in areas such as health, safety, energy, transport and development.

For more information see the IAP website at http://iap.esa.int.